Most people I spoke with and most writers on the subject readily point to the haegum's “nasal” sound, and many also say it can have a piercing sound Gjaejinun sori, nalkaroun sori). In her Theoretical Perspectives on Korean Traditional music: An Introduction, So Inhwa uses the words “nasal" and “piercing” (2002, 44) and “scratchy” (2002, 99).